Living with Atrial Fibrillation: What are Your Experiences?

I'm aware of those categories, I just wondered about the use of the term "chronic" as applied to A-fib. I don't think it's an official category for duration of A-fib, though I noted back when my cardiologist and company first found my short runs of A-fib on my quarterly remote pacemaker reports, they referred to it as "chronic" A-fib a couple times. I see now they refer to it as paroxysmal A-fib, as it occurs whenever it feels like it, but it stops spontaneously generally within a few seconds to occasionally an hour or two. It's pretty well controlled with metoprolol, at least at this point, and often it's asymptomatic.

Have heard now from a few about water intake - think I am low on that! Thanks

Thanks so much, very helpful to me. I need lots of 'reality checks.'

72M here. I had AFib for about six years. Last year it became too much with 59 episodes lasting 20+ hours each. In February, I finally had a PF ablation. Easiest procedure I've ever had done. Zero pain. Zero problems. An out-patient procedure. Now, almost two months later, I may be free from AFib. I'm getting back to pushing harder with exercise and lifting. I did have three episodes soon after the ablation (the first lasting 5 hours and then two episodes lasting 10 minutes) but they warned me I might still have some transient episodes for a few months. My advice is to go for ablation. Check with your doctor, but there are a lot of benefits to the new pulsed field ablation. Note, that you will likely have to stay on blood thinner. At my age and with high blood pressure, they say that, even if my AFib is gone, my score is still too high.

Margaret - Your story and other similar ones are exactly why I do not run to the doctors for checkups or treatments for what I may or may not have. The only difference in my story is, after one bad experience, I did not continue, but read the handwriting on the wall and read, read, and read all the info I could find.

For me and irregular heartbeat, I quit coffee, colas, and anything containing caffeine. And increased my drinking of water. I rarely feel any irregularity and lasts maybe 5 seconds. I do not need to have a test to tell me I am okay. I do get a blood test about one time a year from a lab and examine it as you don't need to be Einstein to figure it out. To me, getting tests when I feel well at age 76, is like taking your car to a mechanic because it hiccups once in a while. They do their dance with a calculator and dollar signs in their eyeballs. My late husband who was an honest mechanic told me that people have their engines often replaced when the solution is to tighten a gas cap and clear the blinking warnings. Being dumb is not a virtue. One customer insisted that the air be removed from her tires and filled up with fresh air once a year because her late husband did it his whole life. Let that sink in.

Your story reminded me of a co-worker when I was in my 20's. I listened to her complain of UTI's and horrible treatments she had every 2 or 3 months. After a few years, I asked her if she ever ate any fruit. She said No. And never any veggies either. I had watched or heard what she ate at lunch every day and was just junk food.

One Friday, I went and bought her some time released Vitamin C and some fruit. On Monday morning she ran to my desk and told me that I had helped her in 3 days more than doctors had helped for years.

Take my stories to heart or leave them. Life is made up of choices. Unlike doctors and drug makers, I do not earn a dime for relating my experiences.

I am 70 and recently diagnosed with A fib. My mother had it in her early 60s and lived till 82. It was not the cause of her passing.
So Im learning more myself!

The most recent categories for AF are:
Paroxysmal
Persistent
Long-term persistent
Permanent
https://www.healthline.com/health/atrial-fibrillation/types-of-atrial-fibrillation

I guess I am late to this party, but what is the difference between "chronic" A-fib and "persistent" A-fib. I have seen the term "persistent" used to describe A-fib which is occurring all the time in a patient.

My story: I am 78 and, after having 2 ablations in 3 years, took my cardiologist's advice and had a pacemaker put in. It has changed my life for the better in innumerable ways. The trepidation of never knowing when an afib episode would occur is gone so my daily activities can proceed without unexpected interruption is perhaps the biggest relief. I feel "normal" again. I wish you much luck with whatever you decide to do.

Thank you for reaching out! I have had Afib for some 10 years and have managed, to my mind, quite well. I use homeopathic remedies that keep me in a place where I have no symptoms that I experience it is only when I go to the cardiologist and he listens to my heart and does a ekg that it shows up. I have over the years had all the stress tests and do fine. There is the scare of a stroke, I have had one (completely unrelated to the Afib) but this all puts me at a higher risk. My homeopathic physician is thinking the blood thinner is the best choice as I am not keen on having the implant. I actually am fine with leaving all as it is, I am almost 85, feel fine but a stroke would be a life changing event that I of course do not want. I do exercise, walk and am raising a child, now a teen. So I am active. Thanks again for reaching out. Warmly Ruth Bruns